Illinois Lawyer Blog

Interesting opinion recently issued by the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court. The facts are tragic. In Bell v. Hutsell, Daniel Bell and Ross Trace, both under 21, were invited to a private residence for a party. The party was at the home of Jeffrey and Sara Hutsell, and hosted by their son, Jonathan, an 18 year old high school student. A number of the people at the party were high school kids. Prior to the party, Jonathan's parents told him that they would be monitoring the party to ensure that no alcholic beverages were consumed. Throughout the evening however, while the parents were present, party attendees consumed alcohol that was brought into the party by the students. No alcohol was provided by the parents. After becoming impaired at the party, Daniel Bell left the party in his car. Ross Trace left with him. Shortly after leaving, Bell struck a tree with his car and he and Trace were killed.

Bell's mom filed a complaint against Jeffrey and Sara Hutsell. A number of theories were alleged. The primary hurdle Ms. Bell faced was the long-standing precedent in Illinois that "social hosts"[i.e. people who provide alcoholic beverages to friends or neighbors at their homes] cannot be held liable when people who become intoxicated at house parties then do harm to others or themselves. In order to get around the "social host" bar, Bell alleged that the Hutsells had acted negligently after voluntarily undertaking a duty to monitor the activities and prohibit any drinking.

Defendants moved to dismiss, arguing that since the death of Daniel Bell was ultimately alchohol related, and the Hutsells were social hosts, there could be no recovery. The trial court granted the motion and dismissed the complaint. Plaintiff appealed. The Appellate Court noted that "...the instant complaint alleged something different from the direct or indirect giving, selling or delivery of alcohol. It alleged tha the defendants voluntarily undertook the duty to to prevent the consumption of alcohol on the premises and they negligently performed that duty". The Court went on to note that "...because defendants did not supply the alcohol, store the alcohol, or affirmatively permits its consumption, they were not social hosts." The Court overruled that portion of the trial court's order dismissing the voluntary undertaking counts. I anticipate that the defendants will likely bring this case to the Illinois Supreme Court. Until then, trial lawyers will be looking much more closely at the facts when reviewing alcohol-related injury cases.

Just saw some news that ALL Marie Callendar brand cheesy chicken and rice frozen meals are being recalled in light of salmonella claims in 14 states.

Just hours after finding the body of 3 year old Riley Fox[pictured above] near a Will County, Illinois creek in 2004, investigators located two shoes less than 100 yards from the body. The shoes had been discarded by Scott Eby[pictured below] who recently confessed to the murder. Eby discarded the shoes because they had become muddy when he dragged the poor child to the creek to drown her after sexually assaulting her. And, he had written his name in the shoes. But despite finding the shoes in virtually the same spot as the body, and having the owner's name, authorities never followed up. And there were other clues authorities missed. Like the fact that Eby lived only about a mile from Riley at the time of her murder. And that Eby's mom had called police the morning the Riley had been reported missing. She was concerned about her son who was vomiting and agitated. Incredibly, authorities never put all those clues together. Instead, police focused exclusively on Kevin Fox, the girl's father. He was ultimately charged with her murder in October 2004 and spent 8 months in prison. He was released after DNA evidence excluded him as a suspect. Kevin Fox and his wife later sued Will County and ultimately received an $8.1 million dollar verdict. That case is still on appeal.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin recently ran an article by Allision Petty about Illinois Senate Bill 326, which calls for significant reforms to be instituted in Illinois Nursing Homes. The legislation, no doubt prodded by a string of articles in the Chicago Tribune which described widespread physical and sexual abuse at Illinois nursing homes, is expected to be signed very soon by Governor Quinn.

Some of the more important provisions of the bill include:

- increasing the number of hours of nursing care provided each day to patients from 2.5 hours to 3.8 hours;

- requiring hospitals to initiate criminal background checks on mobile patients between 18 and 70 who are being transferred to nursing homes for the first time;

- requiring written consents from patients or their representatives before psychotropic drugs can be used in treatment.

Elder Advocate groups, the Governor's Nursing Home Task Force and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan all contributed to the new legislation.